Area Manager jobs in United Kingdom

Northumberland is the northernmost county of England, bordering Cumbria, County Durham, Tyne and Wear and the Scottish Borders with an outstanding North Sea coastline of 103 km and a county of rural natural beauty. The county is steeped in history and heritage and with a population of over 300,000 residents. The council provides a wide range of services across over 5,000 sq. km. Northumberland is one of the largest counties in England. Northumberland County Council is seeking to appoint to a key post within Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service.

The post holder will play a major role in the delivery of our ambitious plans to ensure that we deliver on an ambitious improvement programme.

There are significant opportunities for the post holder to develop their longer‑term leadership skills both within the Fire and Rescue Service and cross the County Council and multi‑agency structures. This role will help shape and deliver upon our aspiration of service improvement to support our growing support to the communities of Northumberland.

The post holder will ensure the delivery of a wide range of improvements which will support our service delivery objectives across the county. The post holder will assist in the development of internal and external collaboration opportunities and provide strategic leadership and direction to managers and staff to promote and champion performance management initiatives and service improvements.

With interpersonal, strategic and innovative skills, this role will take a leading role on encouraging a positive organisational culture.

You must have operated and have operational experience within a Fire and Rescue Service at a competent Group Manager or Area Manager Level.

Operational experience is necessary as being part of the Principal Officer Duty rota you will need to have proven and relevant experience of commanding operational incidents and have the ability to attain the relevant accreditation (i.e. ICL3) and to be qualified to take responsibility for strategic (Gold) command during a major incident or civil emergency. There is a requirement to deliver rostered operational emergency response (Gold Command) cover as part of the Principal Officer Duty Rota in Northumberland, and regional and national response on a 24/7 continuous availability basis.

Working closely with the Senior Leadership Team, the successful post holder will be able to demonstrate an ability to build effective partnerships and facilitate engagement at a strategic level to deliver an inclusive leadership style across the service involving stakeholders in building a vision of change for the future.

To support our workforce planning strategy a small talent pool will be created and held open for a minimum period of 12 months and a maximum period of 24 months.

The shortlisting will take place from week commencing 5th of January 2026 with candidates being informed by the 8th of January 2026.

The final selection process will take place between the 14th and 23rd of January 2026 and will include:

• Interview and Presentation.
• Staff/Stakeholder Panel engagement session.
• Media Exercise.

If you are interested in this exciting role, we would welcome an informal discussion with you. For an informal discussion about the role please contact:

Stephen Kennedy Interim Deputy Chief Fire Officer on 07771 865875 or Email: - stephen.kennedy@northumberland.gov.uk

Please note, there this an expectation that the successful candidate resides in a 60 minute travel time to Morpeth Centre, highlighted in the image below: